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Read Choclot's link. The racial term is grease ball/bag and not grease bucket as I used in my list of examples things the representative could have said instead of 'tar baby'. And I would have agreed that calling someone a grease ball/bag is racist, but that's not what was said. Grease ball evolved from the word 'greaser' a 1800s British/U.S. slang for Mexicans. Sorry, but grease bucket does not make it into the Dictionary of Slang and Euphemism and until it does, it's not in common usage enough to be consisted racist. As I said before in this thread, a word used as a racist term has to have a historical context which is contrary to what some people in this thread think---that people just make them up to stir the pot. You want to borrow a dictionary sometime, come over. I have over 100.
You're gonna pick and choose what you define as a racist term, ignore how others use the term, and read other's minds to attribute a common term they use as "racist". In other words, "Do as I say, not do as I do". Gotcha.
Back to the context of the OP, it was pretty obvious the person quoted was using the "sticky situation" definition per the Uncle R story. Why does the left try to turn this into an agruement that the man is racist? Given the context, there is no way to read that into the statement.
Read Choclot's link. The racial term is grease ball/bag and not grease bucket as I used in my list of examples things the representative could have said instead of 'tar baby'. And I would have agreed that calling someone a grease ball/bag is racist, but that's not what was said. Grease ball evolved from the word 'greaser' a 1800s British/U.S. slang for Mexicans. Sorry, but grease bucket does not make it into the Dictionary of Slang and Euphemism and until it does, it's not in common usage enough to be consisted racist. As I said before in this thread, a word used as a racist term has to have a historical context which is contrary to what some people in this thread think---that people just make them up to stir the pot. You want to borrow a dictionary sometime, come over. I have over 100.
The term "greaser" was used in my high school days to refer to teenage hoods who greased their hair. It was also, sadly, used by some older generaions in my hometown to refer to people of Italian ancestry.
The term "greaser" was used in my high school days to refer to teenage hoods who greased their hair. It was also, sadly, used by some older generaions in my hometown to refer to people of Italian ancestry.
Yup, the slur did broaden out to include Italians after the turn of the century. Being half Italian, I heard the term many times growing up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake
You're gonna pick and choose what you define as a racist term, ignore how others use the term, and read other's minds to attribute a common term they use as "racist". In other words, "Do as I say, not do as I do". Gotcha.
Back to the context of the OP, it was pretty obvious the person quoted was using the "sticky situation" definition per the Uncle R story. Why does the left try to turn this into an agruement that the man is racist? Given the context, there is no way to read that into the statement.
As I said before, it really doesn't matter if he intended it to be racist or not. Common sense should tell a person in a high position like he's in that you don't use a term that brings up images of black babies covered in tar when you're talking about a black president. I don't assume either way if he knew the term was like a dog whistle to racists, or not. I don't really care.
I have no idea what a tar baby is or how it should be interpreted. Or whatever racial connotations you're asserting about the term.
I'm certain that the person in question was using the term to mean that it's frustrating (or something similar) to work with Obama.
ETA:
People will spin anything to try to make whites and/or conservatives look racist.
Wow. And you claim to have a huge grasp on American history, but you have no idea that "tar baby" has a very racist connotation in America. This is hardly a spin. This is simply a barely veiled attack on the President. And you claim to have no idea.
This is so ridiculous. If this man is not racist, this was certainly a poor choice of words. I think he knows this. I see the "race card" police are here. The ones who run to every thread denying that there is any racism in the world towards blacks. The same ones who are always in the threads whining about how the white man is being mistreated and how the media is biased toward black on white "hate' crimes. Whatever...love the term "dog whistle racism."
Since liberals on this thread can't be rational or reasonable, I think i'll make my own irrational and unreasonable statement:
Barack Obama is a Rubber Bust.
That's connotation for "mistake." Because, yes, I do believe he is a huge mistake for this country. Surely you Libs will understand what I mean, right? Since you fully understand context, and all.
Since liberals on this thread can't be rational or reasonable, I think i'll make my own irrational and unreasonable statement:
Barack Obama is a Rubber Bust.
That's context for "mistake." Because, yes, I do believe he is a huge mistake for this country. Surely you Libs will understand what I mean, right? Since you fully understand context, and all.
Perhaps if he hadn't had to deal with the Party of NO from day one, he would have been able to make more progress with the economy, etc. If he's a "rubber bust" then that makes the Republicans "pin pricks"---as in the evil pharmacists who put pin pricks in the condoms they sell, in case you need it spelled out for you.
Last edited by Wayland Woman; 08-02-2011 at 11:41 AM..
I have no idea what a tar baby is or how it should be interpreted.
Well, I'm sure everyone has looked it up by now:
"Tar-Baby is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br'er Rabbit... in the second of the Uncle Remus stories. In modern usage... "tar baby" refers to any "sticky situation" that is only aggravated by additional contact... The expression tar baby is also used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people (in the U.S. it refers to African-Americans; in New Zealand it refers to Maoris)... "
I never think in either the rabbit/or racist
terms.
My grandmother told me that during the Great Depression folks were so poor, kids would eat tar because they couldn't afford chewing gum. Then they came out with a licorice candy called "Tar Babies". Supposedly it got
it's name from "poor kids eating tar as candy".
Not everyone has their racist lingo dictionary at their fingertips these days....
Not everything said about Obama should be
thought of immediately as racist. Especially when he's
not a "real" black man - just ask Herman Cain
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- just ask Herman Cain
